Sound of Silence
by AlyCat3
Summary: One-shot on what the Walkman truly means to Peter. No longer a One-shot by request, extended now on the other Guardians and there back-story.
1. A Theif

A/N: I do not own this movie, Marvel does thank god or this could have been a disaster, these characters or anything you recognize.

* * *

"Can you fix it?" Peter asked, cradling the pieces in his arm as if it was his first born.

Rocket hopped up on a chair beside his captain, and leaned over to investigate the device that was being held protectively.

"Well I can't say for sure with you smothering it like that" he pointed out.

Peter sighed, hesitated for a moment and then gently dumped the assorted cords and wires at his feet, so that Rocket could hop down to the floor and inspect more thoroughly the presumed ruined device.

"Well I'll tell you this" Rocket muttered, talking to himself more then Quill "it sure took a number. Plus, I'm not exactly an expert on your Earth devices, now if it was a nuclear device that you keep going on about, but this..."

He continued on in much lower mutters for Peter's ears, but still he sat there and waited for the experts verdict. "Hovering doesn't make it go faster Lord Impatience."

Taking the hint, Peter got up and began his path up to the flight deck while muttering "It's Star Lord you rodent."

Making his way back up the stairs and to the front of their little craft, he found Gamora and Groot in companionable silence with Drax not in immediate sight. "Where's Drax" he asked without any real curiosity, after all he could go find him himself if he really wanted to, it wasn't that large of a ship.

"Still licking his wounds I suppose" Gamora said calmly while flicking a switch on the dash.

"Why would I do such a thing?" The man in question asked as entering, while scratching at a neat white bandage covering his lower arm, "I do not think the taste would be to appealing."

"Stop scratching, yeesh the Terrin is better then you at that" Gamora snapped without turning around.

Drax opened his mouth, weather to simply repeat his question or rebuttal the current pilot, but there Captain managed to intervene before another fight could break out.

"Never mind Drax" Quill muttered, leaning back in his seat as far as he could and closing his eyes, then automatically opening them again as his hand had reached for an on button that was no longer where it had been for over twenty years. Suddenly unable to remain still, he leaped out of his chair and began making his way back towards his furry mechanic before forcing his feet to stop in there tracks, take a deep breath, then turn back around and edge back to his seat once again.

The rest of the crew watched all of this silently for several minutes until finally Groot said "I am Groot."

With his translator currently occupied the rest of them sat back and took it in there own way. Peter decided it meant 'who's hungry', so choose to again vacate his seat and head in search of some grub.

He made his way back down threw the ship, feeling very off balance. Like a part of his central being was missing, and he couldn't do a thing about it. Making the pathway to the kitchen was easy enough, he'd done it enough times, and humming the lyrics under his breath was beginning to help.

He managed to get a pot of water to begin boiling before another problem made itself known. Someone, probably Groot, had placed the seasoning on the highest shelf. Normally he could have reached up there or even hopped up on the counter, but with the strict no arms above his head thing this was a real problem. Of course he couldn't just eat bland food, so he made the attempt anyways. During the course of this he had gone from humming to full on singing which was helping greatly, but as soon as his arm made it level with his shoulder, his music turned into a cry of pain and he crumpled to the floor.

The pain was awful, like he was being stabbed all over again, but as the blackness began coloring his vision, it was the memories that became all consuming.

_He was ten years old, he'd been trapped in the darkness for an immeasurable amount of time, and the silence was eating his mind. Then there was a light, and something appeared. It was humanoid in shape, with an identifiable human like face, but by the harsh lighting behind it you could make out bright blue skin and some gem that_ _was clearly embedded in the top of its head. It said something in a very harsh tongue, but the alien understood his response just as well as he'd spoken. He came forward and despite the marvelous fight he tried to put up, the alien managed to jab something into his neck. He lay on the floor gasping and clutching his throat, knowing it was going to stop working any second now and he was going to die, then he spoke "well aren't you a tough little bugger. Think I might keep this one." _

_He was eleven and he'd just made his first big job. Yondu was raving with praise as he led him back to his cell. "Honestly kid you're a natural, I ain't seen many Terrins in my life but you've certainly pulled above them all!"_

_His door was unlocked and he obediently went in, and was amazed to find a bed in there. Such luxury he hadn't had since his old life, the one that faded with every passing day. Oh he still clung to his memories, but they became more vague the longer he remained in the stars. "You keep this up and I might just tell those boys to stop fattening you up." Peter couldn't tell if Yondu was kidding about cutting off his food or the threat of being eaten was finally being lifted, you could never really tell with him._

_He was twelve, and it felt like his whole life had been silence. The quiet of the hospital he'd practically grown up in, the quiet of his grandfather's house as the old man had only ever kept a single TV and he was limited to three hours a day. The only reprieve he had ever received was the gift his grandfather had given him after his mother's untimely death had finally been set a date. The cassette had quickly worn out his battery's and from then on the only gift he ever asked for were more to keep the silence out. One would think that being abducted by aliens would force out the quite, but it was the opposite. The vast silence of space, and especially his cell, was ever present, ever oppressive. _

_Then Yondu appeared, offering him a real room, with real food, and going on about how if he hadn't eaten his first born Peter would have been just like him! There it was, sitting on his bed. His heart stopped, his legs almost gave out on him, then he reminded himself about the gravy bath he'd awoken in the last time he'd shown weakness. So he walked calmly to his bed, lifted his Walkman and placed it in his pant's line, and flicked the on switch. _

_Tears unbidden sprang to his eyes as the track began, but he quickly brushed them off as he realized Yondu was still standing in the doorway. "That's right kid, we kept all that stuff we found on you. Your backpack's under the bed with the rest of your merchandise, figured it might come in handy as a bargaining chip some day, but were past that now." He grinned as if he'd just told a clever joke. "I even had it fixed up for you after you got me those talaband coins. Some alien tech I don't feel like explaining to you, but it no longer runs on your Terrin power."_

_Then he left, just like that, and Peter sunk down onto his bed, his eyes closing shut as the silence was finally drowned out._

"Peter?"

_Then they flashed open, Yondu had said they'd saved everything, but what about the gift?_

"Peter!"

_He sank to the floor and began throwing items in every direction of his room until he found it, still wrapped and as pristine as the day his mother had given it to him._

"Come on Quill snap out of it or I'm going to-"

_His hand shook, but he couldn't do it, he just couldn't open his mother's final gift to him. He'd already accepted that he would never return home again, but slipping open that paper would be like accepting it was all a dream, so instead he put the bright colors back in the bag, and concentrated on his music. To drown out the pain, the longing, the silence..._

He woke up to the unmistakable smell of burning metal. His panic level rolled to maximum at once, had the ship crashed? Where was he? Were the others okay? He tried lunging to his feet, then sunk back down groaning and clutching at a throbbing that resided on his hip. He glanced down, wondering if some shrapnel had penetrated him in the crash, only to find a bandaged wound, admittedly leaking blood but not nearly as serious as his mind had conjured. He also happened to be on the kitchen floor. Only a quick glance around his surroundings revealed the foul smell, the pot of water had managed to heat up enough that a sizable hole had been burned through the bottom of it. The pot lay on the floor where it looked like it had been dropped in haste.

Then another memory hit him, much more recent.

_He and Drax were heading back to the ship after having secured that all of the resident's were gone. After all they couldn't have innocents wondering about with the Kree on there way. The two were in companionable silence, Star Lord pondering on if Rocket had kept his word or managed to find a loophole in his "not belonging to you" speech._

_The ship had come into sight when he heard it_, _the soft whistle that_ _seemed so harmless, yet spelled out his death as it neared its target. He had not expected Yondu to catch up quite so quickly, otherwise he would have been a bit more cautious about the tip threat's they had been receiving. Then again, maybe it was better this way happening sooner rather than later, after all it was only a matter of time before his pseudo father came back for him._

_All of this managed to flash through his mind in the instant it took to recognize the sound of his death, then something happened he never would have predicted in all his life. Someone saved his sorry ass._

_Drax's reflexes were as good as he had always boasted, and had he wanted he could have very possibly managed to twist out of the way with maybe a scratch. Instead he twisted towards Peter, bringing up his arm and attempting to shove his leader out of harm's way. The arrow whizzed through the Destroyer's arm, and still managed to cleanly cut through Star Lord's midsection. All he really recognized at the time was that his music had stopped, and how odd it was to see the green and red blood mixing on the pavement that was suddenly to close._

Despite Groot and Rocket giving chase once they'd seen their comrades going down, Yondu had managed to escape, clearly thinking he had succeeded in his task as three days later he had yet to make a reappearance. Drax was lucky, as what ever alien species he was seemed to be healing a lot faster then his. He'd only just been released from bed rest.

Peter sat there for a second just to breath, to take in what had happened and trying to piece together what had led to him lying behind the table and his lunch to be burned to a crisp when voices began floating down, "-told him that he shouldn't be waving his arms around, but does he listen."

Suddenly the small little kitchen was full of the rest of his team, bending down over him and demanding to know what had caused him to "start flailing around like a sapling" and many other choice words spoken by Rocket.

"I'm fine-" Quill managed to slur just before Drax bent down, scooped him up and threw him over his big green shoulder like a sack of potatoes, despite his weak protests. He was carried all the way to his sleeping quarters, placed almost gently on his bed, and then Rocket was leaning over him and pushing something onto his head. "Here you imbecile, I fixed your music box, had to take apart that radio thing of yours so don't break this again! Now quite moving until Gamora finds the damned needle and thread, you ripped your stitches with whatever stunt you pulled," and he went on muttering but Peter was no longer paying attention.

"Thank you" he cut off his friend, and used his slight pause to turn on his beloved soundtrack, and finally managed to drift off to sleep, only to be rudely awoken by the sowing kit.

* * *

So what did you think? Were they in character? I feel like this could be an interesting opening to the sequel, leave your thoughts and comments please


	2. Thug 1

A/N: I do not own this movie, Marvel does thank god or this could have been a disaster, these characters or anything you recognize.

* * *

It was the first time the Guardians had actively sought out a bounty for the greater good. They weren't even planning on turning him over for a pay off, in fact they weren't planning on turning him in at all. Yondu had struck out, had nearly killed one of their own, and he would pay dearly for his crimes, though how was still being hotly debated.

"I could rig a grenade to go off once it hits his lower intestines" Rocket offered, while tinkering with probably said object in his hand.

"That could give him time to escape," Gamora supplied, not knocking down the idea, just tactically pointing out its flaws.

"I am Groot", Groot's voice could be heard from below deck, and a wicked grin quickly covered Rocket's furry face and a cackle escaped his lips before he managed to smother it.

"What did he say?" Drax asked, piloting the ship past an incoming meteor.

"Groot raised the point that we could always pin him down, watch the panic rise in those disgusting orbs on his face." Rocket supplied, throwing one tool over his shoulder and picking up another with his tail.

"I feel you are paraphrasing a bit." Drax stated, having never heard their tree like friend be quite so sadistic.

"Plus we do not want to be so close to him that we would be caught in the blast as well" Gamora pointed out.

"Fine, fine, you guys continue your _strategizing_ then." Rocket muttered, putting his device down and heading downstairs.

Since Peter's little stunt trying to make his own lunch the others had taken it upon themselves to keep a closer eye on their captain, after all if he went ripping those stitches again they would officially be out of medical bandages until the next time they landed. There idiotic leader who was supposed to be keeping track of the ship's supplies not having the brain capacity to include medical supplies on that list and letting it fall dangerously low just in time for him to be attacked.

Making his way down to Quill's room, he let himself in without knocking and then froze as his eyes once again laid upon his fallen friend. He couldn't help a shiver run through him as sweat continued to coat Peter's forehead, and the shivering continued. Peter was still out of it, a mild fever and slight mumbling mostly, but it was still enough to set all of the Guardian's on edge.

Why was Quill getting sick now? Despite losing a lot of blood during Yondu's initial attack, he'd seemed pretty normal when he'd woken up. But now?

After Peter had ripped up his stitches he'd seemed to be quickly declining, like he'd picked up an infection because of the reopened wound, which for all he knew could be possible. Once Gamora and Drax had noticed they'd tried to set course for some hospital, but Rocket had, very vehemently, told them how stupid that idea was.

_His first conscious memory was a scent. Antiseptic, he would later learn._

What if Yondu wanted to make sure the job was done right? What if the next time the Milano landed, that big blue alien came a knocking and saw their friend still breathing. He wouldn't miss again. They needed to track Yondu down, before he found them.

_His second memory was of pain. He would never know what they truly did to him to cause him to make his first wish, a wish for death, for the pain to just stop._

He'd managed to convince the others of this, but with each passing day, even he was beginning to question his own judgment. Was he truly doing this to keep Peter safe, or did he just savor revenge more?

_After the surgery's, after he was made to perfection, they put something in him. Something that helped to understand there words. Helped to understand there language. He hated it. He didn't want there reason's, why they had done this to him. He wanted there blood._

Or was it something else entirely, was he simply trying to stop the others from helping Peter, simply because he himself didn't trust hospitals? Any place that smelled of the evil he was created from. He liked to think other wise, that he could stomach the idea of putting Peter there for the good reasons, if it came to that. When would enough be enough?

_They began to teach him things. They wanted to see his learning capabilities. He was a good student, taking in every bit of knowledge brought to him. It was a hard balance however, if he appeared to eager, they would punish him, and if he showed disinterest, they would punish him. It had to be there idea for him to learn to be a weapon._

He hissed the memories away, and leaped up to Quill's side, then padded up to where his head lay resting on a soaking pillow. Groot sat on the nightstand nearby, still in his sapling stage he had only just begun to move around inside his pot. He was still aware though, and insisted to be right where he was. None of the others argued, they liked to think the two invalids were keeping each other company.

_Patience, that's what it took. He was never good at that though. He planned to early, didn't wait until all of his preparations came together._

Was he truly making the right choice, or was he just covering his own fur? Quill groaned in his sleep, his hand twitching towards Rocket. He couldn't help the involuntary flinch, couldn't help it as his foot stumbled back and he landed on the ground hard. Out of the whole group, it had taken the most out of Rocket to trust Quill, who so resembled _them._

_The soft sound of his nails digging into the hard ground to launch his body forward, only for the motion to be repeated at an even faster pace. It seemed to go on forever, this endless cycle of his running, his heart pounding so loud that the sounds around him, the screams behind him all seemed to fade in to the thick th-thunk of blood pulsing. He knew why they were chasing him of course, after all they'd been on his tail since the day he'd escaped._

_Another shot, this one nearly taking the rest of his leg off, and he was forced down onto all fours just to keep up his ever slowing pace. To slow, he was going to slow! They were going to catch up, send him back and punish him. There was no way he'd ever escape again, not after this._

_He needed something, anything to give him the briefest reprieve so that he could come up with a plan. That's what he was built for after all, to use his brain. He would use that to there disadvantage. His brain latched onto the nearest object and only when he'd reached the highest branch did he realize that he scaled a tree. He sat there for a moment dripping blood steadily down the bark as images began flashing across his vision._

_Bam, his first conscious thought was of pain, and knowing it would never end._

_Bam, choosing a name for himself in secret. Rocket's were those things attached to there ship, what carried them away from this foul place._

_Bam, realizing what he must do for his freedom, a bomb. A bomb he swore would one day be used on the bastards who made it._

_He begins whimpering, there deeds just kept coming, over and over in an endless scream, and he begins whimpering uncontrollably his nails digging so deep into the bark that when the first one arrives and begins reaching up for him, he knew that his nails would be left behind in the bark._

_He lay there curled in on himself, waiting for flesh to connect with fur, but it never happened. He cracked one eye open, then opened it all the way to glance back down to where they had been moments before, but they were all unconscious._

_He opened his other eye and looked around himself properly, now fearing another type of predator. Though, his reasoning worked out, if it was that kind of threat, surly it would now be eating the unconscious body's._

_"I am Groot."_

_He stiffened, every inch of fur going on end as the voice emanated from directly below him. Looking down at his paws once again, all he saw was the same rough bark as before, but now glancing back down at the exact trunk of the tree, he realized what he, and clearly his pursuers, and missed. This tree had a face._

_He was sitting directly on the creatures head._

_Letting out something between a yelp of shock and a snarl of fear, he began to leap away from the creature, only for his leg to collapse beneath him in pain at the sudden lunge to his feet._

_"I am Groot."_

_His ear ticked, and he looked down again, taking in the unconscious body's and the thing that seemed to have done it. "Yeah I got that part, thanks."_

_"I am Groot."_

_He frowned, starting to feel the beginnings of annoyance, and something else. Something he hadn't felt in a long time now, was the gratitude? Nah, must be a hairball._

_"Nice to know. So uh thanks for his," and he patted his current surface "and sorry about the blood. I'll just be going then," and he got a bit more steadily to his feet this time only for a branch to appear in his face that wasn't there before._

_"I am Groot."_

_Both of his ears ticked this time, why on earth would the big guy care if he was hurt. _

_Or had he hurt him probably, but then why was he heading back towards town at a slow and even pace?_

_"What? I was trying to get down so you can get back to your photowhat's it."_

_"I am Groot."_

_He couldn't help but frown, how was it that he could understand such a question and yet only hear the original wording still he answered, "Names Rocket, no need to ask yours."_

_Groot continued his even walking, and seemed all to pleased to continue the conversation. He got the feeling this was the first he'd had in a while._

_"I am Groot."_

_"Yeah suppose I can understand you, probably do to something those whack-jobs put in me, even I don't know what all it is. So where are we going?" Rocket demanded, settling in more comfortably on his perch, and stretching out his injured leg. It seemed rather clear to him that this big oaf wasn't going to be a problem._

_"I am Groot."_

_Rocket snorted "Doctor, for what? This stupid thing, it'll heal in no time." He began to formulate a plan. He'd need a few things, some bandages for start, but it could work._

_"I am Groot."_

_His throat was tightening much to fast for it to be normal, and his eyes were burning like nothing he'd ever felt before. He could only think of one thing to say. _

_"Thanks."_

"Rocket! Come on man snap out of it, I know you don't want me crawling up those stairs!" A to close voice was saying.

He blinked spastically several times to be rid of the old memories, and was staring into dark brown eyes. "The hell Quill you aren't supposed to be up!"

"What was I supposed to do? Let you stand over there and collect dust?" Quill snapped back, already turning around and hobbling back to his bed, without being told for once.

Rocket's eyes immediately went to the wound, but no new blood seemed to be coming out, so there was small praise to be said there.

"I am Groot."

"I'm fine you nitwit" he responded to both of them, "and I was just letting you know that we'd be arriving at Xandar by the end of this cycle, so you can finally get restocked on the medical supplies our dear Captain so stupidly forgot about."

"You guys are never going to let that go" Quill sighed in exasperation as he flopped back down on his bed, then made quite the face.

He opened his mouth to make a cutting reply to hide his sympathy when Gamoura's voice came in over the speakers "Rocket we need you in the meeting room, _now_."

Both he and Peter frowned up at the ceiling. There was something in there that, had any other person spoken like that he would have called stress. That wasn't possible though, Gamora didn't do stress. Movement had his eyes drawing back to the bed and he felt himself snarling as his stupid captain began hauling himself out of bed again, "Oh no you don't! You are to stay right there Star Idiot! Did you change your name to Rocket? _No_, that's why I just called you an idiot."

Peter frowned at me, still moving around, "What, you guys can't have a meeting without me!"

"Oh yes we can, and Groot as well. He's staying here to keep your ass planted." Then without another word he twisted around and swiftly made his way to the desired location.

When he entered, he knew right away that there was good news, as Drax had a decidedly malicious smirk on his face, indicating he was cutting someones head off with his mind. Then there was Gamora's face, which spelled out the bad news, so he rounded on her first. "What now?"

"We have located Yondu" she responded slowly, never taking her eyes off the map in front of her.

"Well that's great! What are we waiting for?" He demanded, tail swishing irritably and his paws already beginning to move for a bomb he'd dearly love to shove up somewhere personal in that blue freak.

"We are waiting for him to land his ship and disembark, plus not be surrounded by so many of his Ravagers would be nice." She replied simply, moving a few figures around on the screen.

"Okay," he drew the word out, eyes twitching between the two, "so why do you look like your not pleased and he's just gotten a free knife?"

Gamora waited a beat to long before answering "because he is on track to Knowhere, the last known location of my sister Nebula. Yondu seems to be trying to do business with Thano's himself."

* * *

As this was originally intended to be a one shot, I'm not as sure about this second chapter, but I liked the idea so much that I didn't just want to drop it. I've also been thinking a lot about their origins, particularly Groot and Rocket.

As for the rest of this story it will go in a similar pattern, back story inter-spread with the other story-line per chapter. Hope you enjoy


	3. An Assassin

A/N: I do not own this movie, Marvel does thank god or this could have been a disaster, these characters or anything you recognize.

* * *

_Gamora was never allowed to play with her father's gun._

"What, are you guys out of your mind?" Peter demanded of the group, determined to not lean on the wall no matter how appealing it looked. "Yondu wouldn't seek out Thanos! Yondu doesn't work for anybody but Yondu."

She scowled, but remained where she sat, there was very little use dragging him back to bed when he was about to pass out in a few moments.

_When she demanded to know why her father said it was to preserve her innocence for as long as possible._

Then she could just carry his non-protesting form. Until then she had decided to ignore his fever ridden babbling. How he even had the strength to get up here at this point was beyond her.

_Gamora had always listened to her parents wishes up until this point. This was something she felt he was wrong about. She was old enough to walk to school on her own, she could handle holding the shinning blaster._

"Come on guys listen to me, I know this whack job better then anyone and he wouldn't go anywhere near Thanos unless there was something in it for him." Peter's words were already beginning to slur as he succumbed to leaning against the wall at last. Not long now.

"Well that might be the problem Quill" Rocket muttered, sitting on the table and tinkering with something in his hand. "You know to much about him. That's probably why he tried to kill you. Now he's going to someone to take out the rest of us."

"What? Yondu wasn't trying to kill me." He responded, blank look just begging to be smacked.

"Hey, want me to make sure that head of yous is on properly?" Rocket snapped, flipping the screwdriver in his hand and pointing it threateningly at Peter.

"My friend Quill," Drax began "Your old leader did attempt to skewer you" he pointed out while scratching at the still healing scab mark on his arm, Gamora had just taken the bandages off earlier that day.

_She was playing in the back yard with her coveted prize when it happened._

Quill stared around at all of there disbelieving faces, trying to come up with some way to explain the crazy lead Ravager to his team. "Look guys, I know Yondu. If he was going to kill me he would have had that thing go through my head, or strait through here," and he even pointed at the center of his chest for emphasis. "He wouldn't have had it go right through my Walkman."

_She hadn't even plucked up the courage to pull the trigger yet. She was just making the noise she though it would make, pointing it at imaginary foes she thought her and her father would some day fight, side by side._

"I am afraid you are wrong Quill." Drax stated, "I pushed you out of the way so that it could not go straight through your center."

Peter shook his head sharply, then regretted it as the room began to sway judging by the color that was continuing to drain from his face. "Drax buddy I really appreciate what you did, but his arrow went strait through your arm like it wasn't there. No he hit his target alright."

"What on earth would be the point of hitting your music box?" I demanded, regretting falling into this talk but determined to point out his flawed logic all the same.

"So that I could come crawling back to him and beg him to fix it. That was his punishment. He's been threatening to kill me for years and hasn't gone through with it yet, so why would he now?" Peter ground out through gritted teeth. She pondered weather he was holding back vomit or not.

"Look Quill just drag your ass back to bed before one of us has to carry you, seeing as you weren't invited to this meeting anyways. Your about to collapse, just let us handle this." Rocket snapped turning back to his project while still holding the screwdriver in a threatening way, as if poised to throw it at any second.

Gamora eyed Rocket curiously, he seemed a bit more on edge then was usual. She couldn't place why he seemed this way, perhaps it was his way of showing his distress at there friends illness.

_Thanos's army was vast and unstoppable, no planet yet had survived his assault. She later learned that he did always save one, usually a young boy with the promise of blood lust._

Yet it was Rocket who insisted that Peter was fine, that he just needed to sleep it off. It was the raccoon's idea to go after Yondu. So what was Rockets excuse for being so wound up?

_She was told that she was lucky, and should be grateful to her king for saving her. She merely wished it had been his head she blew up rather then the six that had made it into her back yard._

She turned back to cleaning the blaster she had cradled in her lap, deciding Rocket's problems were his own. If he wanted to talk about them there was a perfectly good tree willing to listen. Just then the alarm went off indicating the Milano was prepared to land and the automated piloting was about to turn off.

The second she had turned her head to check on the system, there was a loud thunk noise behind her, and she closed her eyes briefly, already knowing what she was going to turn around and find.

_They had caught her parents off guard, and with her father's blaster in the back yard with his panicking daughter, they had no way of defending themselves. They were slain as Gamora reached the back door._

She sighed as she gained her feet and holstered her weapon, turning her head slightly to see Drax and Rocket hovering over there again fallen leader. This was becoming a common occurrence, and it needed to end _now._

_Her parents dead body's lay behind her as she continued to fire at anyone who came to close. Tears blurring her vision, she continued to pull the trigger again and again until it finally ran out of power. Then she turned it into a club, swinging and screaming, never letting a soul come near her family until he himself came and subdued her as easily as a newborn._

_It was her fault. She had not listened to her father, had taken his weapon of defense._

_She would have loved to blame Thanos, but that would be the easy way out. All of the other tributes would do this, which made them weak. She rose from the ranks from her own self hatred._

_Through everything they put her through, the surgeries to enhance her body, the mental stimuli she was given to enhance her senses, that was the one thing they could never take away. It was this self hatred that never made her loyal to Thano's. While others let there hatred of the Titan morph into fear and wonder through his manipulating, she let herself fester and grow away. Making hatred her constant companion made her job easier._

_As she gained favor through her killings and deeds, all she had to do was transfer that hate to the next target. They would never thank her for what she had done, and she would never care._

"Gamora! Get your green ass piloting this ship before we crash into a dead skull!" Rocket snarled as he lunged from Peter's side to the pilots seat anyways. Gamora shook herself hard, pushing back those memories and focusing on the now. One more glance back showed Drax hauling Peter back to bed, so she swiftly made her way forward and took the copilots seat.

"After this is done, we are taking him to a hospital Rocket." She told him without emotion, it was no longer up for debate.

"Yeah, yeah," Rocket muttered, giving the ship a sharp, unnecessary turn.

She sighed, they would definitely need to have a talk later.

They landed smoothly and waited for Drax to make his way back on deck before continuing there interrupted planning. "Our friend is now sleeping. Not peacefully, if his noises are to be counted, but sleeping."

"Good" I murmured, "then Rocket, remain here while-"

"Whoa whoa, missy! I ain't staying anywhere!" Rocket sputtered, lunging to his feet and gripping the gun on his hip, prepping himself for a fight.

"Rocket please, someone must stay here with Peter-" She tried again, but was once again cut off by the irate rodent.

"And why can't you or Drax do it? You can at least change out a bandage, and Drax has more maternal instinct then this whole damn ship put together. It's my bomb and I'm shoving it up that Centurions ass myself!"

They stood that way frozen as they stared each other down until, from below deck they heard "I am Groot."

He grinned, showing all of his pointed teeth. "What Groot said. Now lets get going."

He marched himself out of there home, and she and Drax exchanged exasperated looks before following. It wasn't ideal to leave Peter alone with Groot, since the little guy was still confined to his pot, but for now it was the best they were going to get.

GOTG

Peter awoke to voices, and was instantly annoyed. He had one hell of a headache, and the last time he'd seen his team they had blown him off and told him to go back to bed. Now they were in his room, talking, now even bothering to keep there voices down.

"Some friends if they just leave him lying around." Wait, that wasn't Drax...

"Well now Kraglin don't be so cruel. They did leave him a flower." That laugh, that awful accent, no way, he was hallucinating.

"I am Groot!" Finally, a friendly voice, but why was it getting fainter? Was Groot alright?

"Would you hurry up over there, I don't want those peabody's coming back, no need for the fight they want. Hay, put that back, this ain't no field trip!" Peter groaned internally, Yondu sounded the same as ever, like a teacher with to many misbehaving children.

"Wait a second, give me that." Yondu's voice went up an octave in surprise, and he pondered for a moment what in his room had caught the old guys attention.

"Well I don't believe my eyes. The boy got it fixed, now how do you suppose..." Now he groaned allowed, his throat flexing like crazy to get the words out, he didn't want Yondu going anywhere near that!

"Hey Pete! Glad to see your still alive! Now go back to sleep." Peter tried like crazy to say something, but was unable to fully form any words as he slipped back unconscious.

GOTG

They made there way to several bars, making inconspicuous inquires about local Ravagers. After some gentle questioning and even more threats, they tracked down where Yondu was most recently spotted. Taking a quick peak inside the shop, Gamora hissed and pulled back from the door, dragging back her two partners.

"What, what did you see?" Rocket snapped, shaking off his fur and glaring up at her for even touching it.

"Nebula is in there." She muttered, triple checking her blaster was at full power, this was turning out even worse then she had ever thought.

"You mean we have been chasing the wrong blue person for an hour?!" Rocket growled much to loudly.

"Silence," she hissed, her hand twitching to snap his jaw shut herself. She stilled herself only to not start a third fight. Standing in a dank alleyway, mind racing through light-years, she came to a decision.

"Perhaps Thanos did send Nebula here to do business for him, or perhaps she is here for a different reason all together. Either way, we must act. Rocket, I need to know how fast can you build something for me?"

"Depends on what you got" he responded, eyes instantly lighting up at the thought of building a new device.

_She had been there when Nebula had been accepted. A small girl, with fear bright in her eyes as she cowered in the corner, her parents lay dead at Gamora's feet. The little girl had done as she was told, her mother had screamed to go hide in her room and she had done just this. She had done what she was told, and still she would die for it. She raised her blaster, the one she had kept all these years despite her father's wishes, and looked the girl in the eyes as she pulled the trigger. The girls head exploded as someone lunged from the closet and tackled Gamora to the ground, there they wrestled, but Gamora had experience in killing by now. She subdued the girl, who must have been her younger sister, and again looked her in the eyes and began to pull the trigger until, from behind her Thano's whispered "No."_

_Her hand stilled at once, and she got to her feet and fell back to his side. The Titan stood in the doorway, looking down on the little one. "You showed great cleverness in waiting for your opportunity to strike, with some practice you will learn. What is your name?"_

_"Nebula."_

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Rocket demanded for the third time, wanting to make sure, for when we lost the eliminate of surprise chaos would rain.

"For the tenth time Rocket yes!" I hissed form to my shoulder, watching him fiddle with the device I had described in great detail for him to create. Thankfully it had not taken him long, as he claimed to have made dozens of them.

"If this plan blows up in our face, I'm calling mutiny on your crummy ass leadership." He grumbled, trying to hide concern perhaps? Or simply unhappy about his own role I could not decide.

I only turned my head slightly to glare at the over grown Raccoon before stating "Then give Drax the signal, this ends now."

* * *

What on earth is going on in Nowhere? What is Yondu truly gonig to do to Quill? Why am I asking you guys? Hope you guys are still enojoying


	4. Thug 2

A/N: I do not own this movie, Marvel does thank god or this could have been a disaster, these characters or anything you recognize.

* * *

Groot was not in a good mood.

He could still feel his roots implanted deeply into the soil Rocket continued to provide for him, and until he was strong enough to pull those roots out himself he was stuck here. Plus, he needed some water, badly, and he didn't think the Ravagers were going to give him that what with being shoved in a closet.

He was not particularly worried about Peter himself, after all if Peter said that Yondu wasn't trying to hurt him intentionally then Groot believed him. However he was not looking forward to the others coming back and finding out Yondu had been on the ship. There was also the fact that, just because Yondu might not mean Peter harm, did not mean he wouldn't do something else equally as bad.

Rocket's reaction in particular was not something he was looking forward to. He was always so much more violent when there was danger around. He could almost picture his reaction now. Thinking of things exploding seemed to have a physical reaction.

There was a loud slam indicating the door to the ship had been opened with great force, and loud, familiar voices.

"Yeah put her down over there, and go get my tool kit." He heard Rocket's voice say from up above deck.

"I am Groot" I called as loud as I could, but it did not seem that I was heard as a loud banging noise resounded at the same time. Curse my still growing form.

"Yeesh man, don't break my stuff. Do you know how expensive some of this is!" Rocket growled, and the well accustomed noise of Rocket tearing through his tool kit could be heard. I began to grow seriously concerned as one, they had yet to come down and decide to check on there friend and, two, I had yet to hear Gamora speak up. Had something happened to her?

"No my friend I am afraid I do not. How is she?" Drax's heavy voice floated all the way down the stairs, along with the concern it held. Something was definitely wrong.

"She'll live." Rocket grumbled, almost to low for me to have heard. Thankfully these walls were incredibly thin. "Would you go check on Groot and Peter, can't believe they haven't made a peep down there yet."

The sound of the Destroyer's thick boots making there way down the stairs finally gave me reason to begin shouting again "I am Groot!"

The boot's paused and then Drax's voice could be heard more then clearly "Rocket, come downstairs quickly!"

There was a loud crash from up above, and the click of Rocket's nails skidding across the floor and then the stairs was quickly silenced as he laid eyes on what ever had spooked Drax. "Oh for the love of Asgard where, of frag! Peter, Groot!"

"I am Groot!" I called again, and finally seemed to have been heard as Rocket's paws once again made scraping noises in his hurry to a location.

The door swung open, and Rocket had snagged up my pot clutching it tightly to his chest. "Groot! Your alright! Where the hell is Quill?"

"I am Groot."

Rocket's arms tensed around me, I could feel all of the fur on him standing on end,"The Ravagers? Frag, well where did they go?

"I am Groot"

He finally pulled me away from his chest to give me the stank eye. "I know you were in a closet, considering I'm now standing in it to, but did you see anything, did they say where they were going?"

"I am Groot"

Rocket groaned, "Of course they wouldn't have told you, I was just asking if you heard!"

"I am Groot"

"No of course they wouldn't. What help are you anyway?" He demanded, while clutching my pot back to his chest as he began walking out and into Peter's room.

"I am Groot"

"S'alright Groot, not your fault." He murmured, heading back towards the stairs.

"Rocket, what has become of our friend Quill?" Drax demanded, stepping so close Rocket seemed in danger of being trampled.

"Groot doesn't know, but were about to find out." Rocket hissed, climbing the stairs and coming back out on the main deck.

"I am Groot!" I proclaimed, stunned to see Gamora sprawled across a chair, seemingly dead.

"What? Oh she's fine, just needs to be rebooted or something." Rocket said, putting my pot down right next to her chair, and sounding way more concerned then he was trying to hide. "Drax, go back and get our little prisoner, even if she doesn't know, we can still turn her over. Get at least one problem out of the way."

"I am Groot"

"I'll explain later buddy, right now I've got a dead Centurion to track down." Rocket snapped while heading back down the stairs, to do what I didn't know, which frustrated me more then I could say.

Drax seemed to be doing as Rocket had requested as he quickly made his way out of the ship, and came back moments later with Nebula thrown over his shoulder, seemingly as dead as her sister.

"I am Groot" I sighed in frustration, reaching out a branch to brush Gamora's cheek in concern, what had happened out there?

Drax made his way downstairs with his prisoner cuffed and thrown over his shoulder, just as Rocket was coming back up with Peter's locating device in one hand, and a device I didn't recognize in the other. "Through her in the kitchen and lock the door, don't think she can break to much in there if she happens to wake up."

"I am Groot" I demanded.

"Alright buddy, I'll explain, just give me one second..." he muttered, placing the locator down and fidgeting with the other device. There was a sudden flash of light, the sound of electricity warming up, and Gamora suddenly sat up with a wild swing, knocking my pot to the ground.

The hard impact of my mini home breaking apart and my roots no longer connected to soil was quite shocking in itself, the noise above me made it far worse.

"-could have killed him!" He blinked several times, looking about and rather confused that everything was suddenly gray.

"I did warn you Rocket, and I apologize for knocking his pot over." Gamora's voice finally, calm, cool, and collected as always.

"Don't apologize to me apologize to him!" and suddenly the gray fur was no longer there and I was being thrust into Gamora's green face.

"I apologize Groot." Gamora said, meeting me dead in the eye.

"I am Groot" I told her pleasantly, waving my legs around with glee, it felt good to be free of the confines, though I could already feel myself shrinking slightly from the lack of water and soil. Nothing a quick sun tan wouldn't fix.

"He forgives you," Rocket grumbled, placing me down gently and keeping an almost paternal eye on me as I began to walk towards the door "and we've got a problem, Quill's missing."

"What!" for the first time Groot watched Gamora lose her cool as she lunged to her feet, hands reaching for her weapons. "What do you mean missing?"

"I mean, he ain't on the ship. Groot said Yondu came around and shoved him in a closet." Rocket replied, now setting down the thing that had awoken Gamora and picking up Peter's location device.

"We must find them at once, where is Drax?" she paused, then glared about the room and continued "and what became of Nebula?"

"Your plan worked almost flawlessly, believe it or not. I do take responsibility for that bomb by the way so don't even start. Drax is hogtying up our little prisoner, and" Rocket smacked the device hard into his palm, and the blue light came to life, "our dear Star-Lord is right this way."

GOTG

Being able to walk again of my own free will was so invigorating, the sun shining being able to feel the earth once again, it was almost enough to help me forget why we were out here. Almost.

The others were all tense and, disturbingly for Rocket, silent.

I waited only long enough for our ship to fade into the distance to once again demand "I am Groot!"

Rocket sighed, keeping his eyes on his borrowed device before finally saying "Alright already, no need to get testy. We found Nebula at a bar, and Gamora came up with a complicatedly stupid plan worthy of our idiotic leader. The two of them have a bunch of cybernetics running through them, you know that."

"I am Groot"

"Right yeah, and so Gamora had me build something to turn them off. It's called an EMP, shuts down all electricity. So me Gamora, and her sister all got to take an involuntary dirt nap. Drax hogtied our next pay day, I woke up and shook it off. Gamora and Nebula needed a bit of a reboot to get started, and now your all caught up."

"I am Groot!"

"Well no, obviously we didn't see any of the Ravagers other wise we wouldn't have been so damned surprised to find out they'd been on our damn ship." Rocket grumbled, his fists clenching tightly enough on the controls that the image in front of them began to blur a bit. "Frag," he hissed, smacking it with his paw again to clear that up.

"I am Groot."

"Of course I don't blame myself, don't be daft! I blame those bloody thieves for taking our damned thief." Rocket gave the controls one more good smack and we were back on track again.

"How much farther Rocket?" Gamora called from the back of our group.

"Not long now," he called back "this thing says Quill's signature is right in this area, which means that-" Rocket stopped midway through both his speech and step, forcing him to falter and land on all fours, dropping the device, and bringing the rest of us up short.

We had just come through a bit of a clearing, and all current eyes had landed on one thing. Peter's jacket, laying atop what could only be a corpse beneath it.

GOTG

Peter awoke back on the Ravagers ship, something he had dreaded from the moment he'd escaped it. He had only lived by the skin of his teeth the last time he and Gamora had been here, now how was he supposed to get out with a bloody hole in his side?

He groaned, wanting to smack his head against something, but managed to avoid doing that and acknowledging that it would do more harm then good. Instead, he began to gently lift himself into a sitting position, and then gaped wide eyed at his actual location. He was not in one of the cells, or the many a torture chambers aboard this vessel. He just so happened to be in the one lonely, never used but for the most dire of circumstances med bay.

The only reason he was sure that he was on the Ravager home ship instead of having lost his mind was the smell. He liked to think his brain wouldn't have retained such an awful stank.

Managing to sit up all the way with only a few muffled groans, he looked around himself more properly. One, he was not tied down, nor it seemed in any way restrained. Two, his bandages were no longer on him, and a quick look at his torso showed that he had been more cleanly stitched then Gamora and her sowing kit ever could. Those were medical sutures. Plus, the heat that had been coming off of the funny colored scar was no longer present, the infection had been staved off.

Yondu had saved his life _again. _What on Earth was he going to owe his pseudo-dad this time.

The answer came in the form of a body bag.

The lead Ravager himself made his appearance by sauntering into this room as if he owned the place, which yeah he technically did. "Bout time you woke up, ya bum." Was his loving greeting.

"Hello your self." I grumbled back, "now where's my shirt."

"Oh well I am so sorry we didn't have the time to pack up your shit before bringing you over, ya little ingrate" Yondu grumbled, "I did however manage to snag your favorite toy."

He had that sickening look plastered on his face, that meant I was really not going to like what ever came next. He reached inside of his coat pocket and tossed it at my head to fast for me to catch a glimpse of what my reflexes were grabbing.

My thumb landed on the play button as I caught my Walkman in hand, and _Cherry Bomb _began playing loudly from the headphones that were still attached. I blinked spastically down at my prized possession for a moment, still unable to believe Rocket had fixed it up to brand new, then clutched it tightly to my chest giving Yondu the ugliest look I could muster.

My brain was finally catching up with the rest of the world, and something wasn't sitting right. "Where are my friends?"

"Those saps are just fine, boy" he said sounding rather unconcerned as he looked on with disinterest at his nails "you know a little appreciation wouldn't kill you. After all I was the one who got you help instead of going on a bounty hunt."

"Yeah, by kidnapping me" I grumbled, turning off my music and wrapping the headphones more securely around it before tucking it into my waistline.

"And why did my cut get infect Yondu? You would never be able to collect on my never ending debt if you killed me." I snapped, ignoring the fact that he was right. I knew all of my teammates had a thing against hospitals for there own reason, hell so did I.

"Oh you don't have to worry about that no more boy. I took care of that." I couldn't help but tense up at that. What if, somewhere in Yondu's twisted brain, he perceived the other Guardians lack of hospital care a problem and took care of them? Yondu had done stranger things like oh, helping to take on an invading army just so Peter would owe the Centurion for the rest of his life.

Slowly, he began to ease himself off the table, careful of the hard tug he could feel on his bandaged side. "I'm leaving now Yondu, and I'm going to find my friends. If there hurt, or in any way-"

"Oh hush up will ya" Yondu cut me off, "I did you lot a favor. A thank you wold be nice." I ground my teeth together, Yondu had done something I really wasn't going to like.

* * *

I know you guys are all going to hate me and be extremely disappointed at the lack of Groot back-story, but that's the reason this took so long to get the second part up. I could come up with plenty of material for the others, some I even had to cut out, but I got nothing from Groot. It's kind of hard to accomplish a character back-story on three words. I'm really sorry for this, but I hope you at least kind of enjoyed.


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